Hub Cooking Excursion to Strathbogie

39 women, young children and volunteers from the St Georges Road and Shepparton English Language Centre Community hub climbed aboard a bus for a Cooking Excursion to travel to a property on top of a ridge with 360 degrees views in the Strathbogie Ranges. (The women who attended this excursion are originally from South Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Kuwait, Malaysia, Phillipines and Nepal).

For the participants of St Georges Road Community Hub and the Shepparton English Language School, this was the first chance to travel in Australia to see the hills and landscapes like this. This visit to Strathbogie Hills was enabled by a bus trip sponsored by the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District.

There were many smiles and laughter as women enjoyed having fun being together. Many shared stories of happy memories from their childhood of their homelands far away.

We learnt how to make pizza and cooked in the outdoor woodfired oven. Many were surprised how easy it was to make and look forward to trying to cook this at home for their families.

We enjoyed eating, chatting and sipping on tea on the picnic rugs and hammocks under the warm winter sun and also taking time to wander around the property to see the chooks, rabbits, fish and food garden.

With comments like-

“it was the best day ever”

“I was not feeling so well this morning but I think the fresh air made me better”

And from one of our volunteers sent me this message, “I had an absolute ball so THANK YOU for letting me meet these wonderful young women”

Many women said, “This day makes me very happy. Please Liz can we do this again: ”

During the school term one of our hub programs is a cooking program with women taking turns to be ‘chef of the week’ teaching one of their favourite recipes. It is a wonderful activity to learn more about each other and each others cultures.

We look forward to beginning a Family Gardening Program in term 3 and extending the kitchen garden to include a multicultural kitchen garden and use in our cooking program. The weekly family gardening program will begin on Thursday July 25th 2-3.15pm with Bunnings doing a family activity (and then once a month from then on) to kick start us.

Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity for the excursion. We are all very grateful.

The bus trip was sponsored by Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District

Purpose

The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District Inc. is a peak body whose mission is to promote and represent the socia l, cultural and economic well-being of ethnic communities in the Goulburn Valley Region through the provision of quality and innovative settlement, refugee support, community development, and information and advocacy services.

Values

The Ethnic Council acts with the following values:

* Respect for Diversity

* Valuing Equality

* Acting with Integrity

* Acting Sustainably

* Striving for Excellence

* Harmony and Unity

* Leadership

Vision

A community for all communities

The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where we deliver our services and we pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.